CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

LAW AND LITERATURE

TOPIC: RVS HICKLIN CASE LAW

SUBMITTED TO:

DR. PRATYUSH KAUSHIK

FACULTY OF LAW AND LITERATURE

SUBMITTED BY:

NAME: AMAN GUPTA

COURSE: B.B.A. LL.B (Hons.)

ROLL NO: 1811

SEMESTER: 2nd

ROUGH DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE PROJECT

TITLED ABOVE
INTRODUCTION

RVS Hicklin case law or commonly known as The Hicklin test is a legal test for obscenity
established by the English case Regina v. Hicklin (1868). At issue was the statutory
interpretation of the word "obscene" in the Obscene Publications Act 1857, which authorized
the destruction of obscene books. In the case the test of obscenity was stated as, “whether the
tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are
open to such influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall.”

Regina v. Hicklin involved one Henry Scott, who resold copies of an anti-Catholic pamphlet
entitled "The Confessional Unmasked: shewing the depravity of the Romish priesthood, the
iniquity of the Confessional, and the questions put to females in confession." When the
pamphlets were ordered destroyed as obscene, Scott appealed the order to the court of
Quarter Sessions. Benjamin Hicklin, the official in charge of such orders as Recorder,
revoked the order of destruction. Hicklin held that Scott's purpose had not been to corrupt
public morals but to expose problems within the Catholic Church; hence, Scott's intention
was innocent. The authorities appealed Hicklin's reversal, bringing the case to the
consideration of the Court of Queen's Bench.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

 To understand the implication of obscenity on the society.

HYPOTHESIS

 Hicklin test being the perfect or the appropriate test of obscenity.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher in the project advanced would like to rely upon the doctrinal method of
research.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION

 History
 Headnote
 Arguments Advanced
 Decision
 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Regina_v._Hicklin
 https://www.lawfarm.in/question/hicklin-test